In our last build notes, we wrote about the pieces that help a cloud PC fit into everyday work. This time we’ve been looking at the screen itself, the words around it, and a rule we want in place before the first real test.
A calmer screen
We’ve redesigned the app around your PC’s screen. Think of a video page: the thing you came to see sits in the middle. Here, that’s your desktop, with your conversation with the assistant beside it. When you want more room for the PC, one button widens the screen.
The colours now follow the sky blue of this site. We also took out the technical details that helped us build the app but didn’t help someone use it: internal names, codes and raw numbers. They stay out of sight unless a developer asks for them. What remains should say what it means in plain words.
We want the screen to feel like a place to work. You should be able to see your PC and talk to the assistant without sorting through the machinery around them first.
Honest labels
Sometimes we run the app in practice mode, without a real PC behind it. It now says so on the screen, and an example picture is labelled as an example. It shouldn’t look like a working PC when it isn’t one.
If the app can’t yet tell which kind of PC it’s showing, it says that too and keeps checking. A clear “we don’t know yet” is more useful than an empty space that leaves you guessing.
We’ve also named buttons for what they actually do. If a control only stops the task in progress, that’s what it says. It also explains that blocking new requests isn’t available there yet. Stopping one task and preventing another from starting are different things, and the screen should make that clear.
In the conversation, you see the assistant’s own answers. Internal status notes stay out of the way, so they don’t get mixed up with what the assistant is saying to you.
A firm off switch for the first real test
Before we run a real cloud PC for the first time, we want a hard rule: the test PC must switch itself off after a fixed time, even if one part of the system fails. We’ve designed two independent checks for that rule, and starting a test will remain a deliberate, manual step.
This isn’t built yet. The first real test waits until it is built and we’ve seen it working. A rule on paper is a starting point, not proof that a PC will stop.
What this is, and what it isn’t
All of this is local development. The redesigned app isn’t in anyone’s hands yet, no real Linux Cloud PC has been validated, and early access is still closed.
What should a PC always tell you on screen? If there’s a message you’d want to see, or a detail you’d rather not have to puzzle out, tell us in #feedback on our Discord.
Where we are: a calmer screen and clearer labels in local development, with a firm off switch designed for the first real test. The off switch still needs to be built and seen working. No real Cloud PC has been validated, and early access is closed.